System, apparatus, method and program for processing information

ABSTRACT

In response to a request, one of primary content data as a copyrighted work and incidental content data is received from a server. With a music editing and sharing application, the content data is used in a secondary usage fashion for editing in order to produce new incidental content data. The incidental content data is not the one that is produced by arranging directly the primary content data as an editing material but play control information for giving an instruction defining a play mode. The incidental content data is uploaded to an incidental content server.

CROSS REFERENCES TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of and claims the benefit under 35U.S.C. §120 of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/349,918, titled“SYSTEM APPARATUS, METHOD AND PROGRAM FOR PROCESSING INFORMATION,” filedJan. 13, 2012, which is a divisional of and claims the benefit under 35U.S.C. §120 of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/077,645, titled“SYSTEM, APPARATUS, AND PROGRAM FOR DISTRIBUTING INCIDENTAL CONTENT,”filed on Mar. 20, 2008, which claims the benefit under 35 U.S.C. §119 ofJapanese Patent Application JP 2007-077353, filed in the Japanese PatentOffice on Mar. 23, 2007, each of which is hereby incorporated byreference in its entirety.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to an information processing system forallowing music to be delivered via a network and a file to be shared viathe network, an information processing apparatus contained in theinformation processing system and a computer program executed by theinformation processing apparatus.

2. Description of the Related Art

Content delivery is widely performed using a network. An audio contentdelivery system is one example of content delivery. Audio content to bedelivered is music composed by an artist, for example, and stored andmanaged in a server as digital audio data. A user owning an informationprocessing terminal such as a personal computer installs applicationsoftware (client software) having a client function for content deliveryon the information processing terminal. After a proper transaction forpurchasing, the user runs the client software and downloads the audiodata as desired audio content. The data downloaded as the audio contentis typically stored and managed on a storage device in the informationprocessing terminal by the user. The user can thus enjoy the music usingthe client software to play the audio data as the audio content storedon the information processing terminal.

Also known as application software (editing software) is the one thatretrieves audio data and video data as a material and arranges and editsthe material to produce a new song. Recently, such application softwarehaving a simple to a complex structure is in widespread use among notonly specialists for music production but also an ordinary person who donot work on music on a regular basis.

The editing software modifies read data as content (such as audio andvideo data) for editing. For example, sampling and mashup are performedon audio data so that part of existing music is easily acquired andedited. In practice, professional musicians have released a lot of musicproduced using such a technique. Reference is made to JapaneseUnexamined Patent Application Publication Nos.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Under these circumstances, some users may wish to use delivered contentand not only enjoy merely data of the content but also create newcontent by performing a secondary editing process using the editingsoftware and release the created content to the public.

Such a user who does not work on music on a regular basis has difficultfinding a site and releasing created content the site. In view of asubstantial amount of time and money expected, many such users wouldhesitate to go on a project. This difficulty becomes an obstacle to suchpeople intending to enjoy producing music.

In accordance with one embodiment of the present invention, aninformation processing system includes a primary content server, anincidental content server and a terminal, each communicating with theother via a network. The primary content server includes a primarycontent information storage unit for storing primary content informationcontaining at least main information of a primary content. Theincidental content server includes an incidental content informationstorage unit for storing incidental content information, the incidentalcontent information containing, as main information, play controlinformation containing an instruction to play the main information ofthe prior content as an original editing material, a primary contentinformation download control unit for causing the primary content serverto transit to the terminal, via the network, primary content informationrequested by the terminal out of the primary content information storedon the primary content information storage unit, and an incidentalcontent information download control unit for causing the incidentalcontent server to transmit to the terminal, via the network, incidentalcontent information requested by the terminal out of the incidentalcontent information stored on the incidental content information storageunit. The terminal includes a content information storage unit forstoring locally on the terminal the primary content informationtransmitted from the primary content information download control unitand the incidental content information transmitted from the incidentalcontent information download control unit, an edit processing unit forperforming an edit process by using in a secondary usage fashion atleast one of the primary content information and the incidental contentinformation, locally stored on the content information storage unit, anincidental content information generating unit for generating incidentalcontent information containing a new content based on editing results ofthe edit processing unit, and a content information upload control unitfor causing the terminal to transmit to the incidental content servervia the network the incidental content information generated by theincidental content information generating unit to be stored on theincidental content information storage unit.

In accordance with one embodiment of the present invention, aninformation processing apparatus includes an communication unit forcommunicating via a network, a primary content information downloadcontrol unit for causing a primary content server to transmit, via thenetwork, specified primary content information of primary contentinformation stored on the primary content server and containing at leastmain information of a primary content in order to retrieve the primarycontent information, an incidental content information download controlunit for causing an incidental content server to transmit, via thenetwork, specified incidental content information of the incidentalcontent information stored on the incidental content server andcontaining, as main information, play control information containing aninstruction to play the main information of the primary content as anoriginal editing material in order to retrieve the incidental contentinformation, an edit processing unit for performing an edit processusing in a secondary usage fashion at least one of the primary contentinformation retrieved by the primary content information downloadcontrol unit and the incidental content information retrieved by theincidental content information download control unit, an incidentalcontent information generating unit for generating incidental contentinformation containing a new content based on editing results of theedit processing unit and a content information upload control unit forcausing a terminal to transmit to the incidental content server via thenetwork the incidental content information generated by the incidentalcontent information generating unit to be stored on an incidentalcontent information storage unit.

Each of the information processing system and the information processingapparatus (terminal) downloads the primary content information and theincidental content information and stores the downloaded informationlocally thereon for later retrieval. The information processingapparatus then performs the edit process on the primary contentinformation and incidental content information in order to produce newincidental content information and uploads the new incidental contentinformation to the incidental content server for storage. The producedincidental content is thus disclosed on the incidental content server.The main information as the incidental content information is the playcontrol information containing the instruction to play the maininformation of the primary content as the original editing material. Thesubstantial body of the incidental content information is the playcontrol information rather than being the data body of the primarycontent as the original editing material.

In accordance with one embodiment of the present invention, aninformation processing apparatus, includes a communication unit forcommunicating via a network, an incidental content information storageunit for storing primary content information and incidental contentinformation, the primary content information including at least maininformation of a primary content and the incidental content informationgenerated by edit processing in a secondary use at least one unit ofincidental content information containing, as main information, playcontrol information containing an instruction to play the maininformation of the primary content as an original editing material, astorage location setting unit for setting a storage location of thereceived incidental content information in the incidental contentinformation storage unit when the received incidental contentinformation is stored on the incidental content information storage unitin response to reception of the incidental content information uploadedover the network, and a notification unit for notifying anotherinformation processing apparatus having uploaded the incidental contentinformation of the storage location set by the storage location settingunit.

With this arrangement, the information processing apparatus (terminal)as the incidental content server transmits the storage locationinformation indicating the storage location of the incidental contentinformation to the information processing apparatus having transmittedthe incidental content information, in response to reception of theincidental content information uploaded. The accessing to the incidentalcontent uploaded to the incidental content server, namely, disclosure ofthe incidental content is performed with reference to the storagelocation information notified to the terminal as a transmission source.

In accordance with one embodiment of the present invention, aninformation processing apparatus, includes a communication unit forcommunicating via a network, an incidental content information storageunit for storing primary content information and incidental contentinformation, the primary content information including at least maininformation of a primary content and the incidental content informationgenerated by edit processing in a secondary usage at least one unit ofincidental content information containing, as main information, playcontrol information containing an instruction to play the maininformation of the primary content as an original editing material, aterminal identifying unit for identifying a network terminal of acopyright manager of the primary content as an original editing materialof the received incidental content information in response to receptionof the incidental content information uploaded via the network, and anew upload notification unit for notifying via the network the networkterminal identified by the terminal identifying unit that incidentalcontent information of the primary content of the copyright manager ofthe network terminal used as an original editing material is newlystored.

Upon receiving and storing the incidental content information uploaded,the information processing apparatus as the incidental content serveridentifies the network terminal of the copyright manager of the primarycontent as the original editing material of the incidental contentinformation stored. The information processing apparatus notifies thenetwork terminal that the incidental content information has beenstored.

Without searching, the copyright manger can reliably learn the presenceof the incidental content information related to the primary contentwhich is used as an original editing material and the copyright of whichis managed by the copyright manager.

In accordance with the system of embodiments of the present invention,the data of delivered content is used in a secondary usage fashion toproduce incidental content and the produced incidental content isuploaded over the network for disclosure. General users can smoothlyproduce and disclose content using the system of embodiments of thepresent invention. The substantial data body of the incidental contentinformation is the play control information containing the instructionrelating to the mode of playing of the primary content. In this way, theincidental content allows a variety of applications of the primarycontent, in addition to simply viewing the primary content. The level ofentertainment is thus increased.

The incidental content server notifies the terminal receiving theincidental content information in the upload operation of the storagelocation information of the incidental content. The user of the terminalmay notify users of other terminals of the storage location informationvia any other means, thereby positively informing acquaintances of theincidental content produced by the user. The user as a creator of theincidental content may use a network as a communication medium fordisclosing the incidental content to acquaintances. The network systemof embodiments of the present invention is enhanced in usefulness andthe degree of entertainment.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates a system configuration of a music editing and sharingsystem in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 illustrates a basic usage of and system operation of the musicediting and sharing system in accordance with one embodiment of thepresent invention;

FIG. 3 diagrammatically illustrates incidental content generated by auser terminal in accordance with one embodiment of the presentinvention;

FIG. 4 diagrammatically illustrates incidental content played by theuser terminal in accordance with one embodiment of the presentinvention;

FIGS. 5A-5C illustrate usage modes of editing material content in thegeneration of the incidental content;

FIG. 6 illustrates an internal structure of a primary content server inaccordance with one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 7 illustrates an internal structure of a incidental content serverin accordance with one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 8 illustrates an internal structure of a communication server inaccordance with one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 9 illustrates an internal structure of a user terminal inaccordance with one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 10 illustrates information to be stored on a hard disk drive in theuser terminal in accordance with one embodiment of the presentinvention;

FIG. 11 is a functional block diagram of a program as a content editingand management tool of the music editing and sharing application inaccordance with one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 12 diagrammatically illustrates a structure of an incidentalcontent play control file in accordance with one embodiment of thepresent invention;

FIG. 13 diagrammatically illustrates a structure of usage primarycontent information and usage editing material content information inthe incidental content play control file in accordance with oneembodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 14 illustrates play control information in the incidental contentplay control file in accordance with one embodiment of the presentinvention;

FIG. 15 diagrammatically illustrates a structure of a primary contentfile in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 16 is a flowchart of a process in which usage permission rangesetting of editing material content is accounted for in user interface(UI) in an incidental content editing process of the music editing andsharing application in accordance with one embodiment of the presentinvention;

FIG. 17 is a flowchart illustrating production of the incidental contentplay control file in the incidental content editing process of the musicediting and sharing application in accordance with one embodiment of thepresent invention;

FIG. 18 is a flowchart illustrating an upload process of the incidentalcontent performed by the user terminal and a corresponding process ofthe incidental content server in accordance with one embodiment of thepresent invention;

FIG. 19 is a flowchart illustrating a download process of the incidentalcontent performed by the user terminal and a corresponding process ofthe incidental content server in accordance with one embodiment of thepresent invention;

FIG. 20 is a flowchart illustrating a play process of the incidentalcontent performed by the user terminal in accordance with one embodimentof the present invention;

FIG. 21 illustrates communications performed with a copyright manager inthe upload process of the incidental content in the system in accordancewith one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 22 is a flowchart illustrating an incidental content uploadnotification process performed from the incidental content server to theterminal of the copyright manager illustrated in FIG. 21;

FIG. 23 is a flowchart illustrating operation of the incidental contentserver that responds to reception of delete request/warn request fromthe terminal of the copyright manager of FIG. 21; and

FIG. 24 illustrates a system configuration and system operation of asystem in which the incidental content as audio data is managed andshared.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

FIG. 1 illustrates an information processing system in accordance withone embodiment of the present invention.

As shown in FIG. 1, the information processing system includes a primarycontent server 1, an incidental content server 2, a communication server3, and a large number of user terminals 4, each linked to the other viaa network 5.

The information processing system of one embodiment of the presentinvention forms a music delivery and sharing system. More specifically,music (primary content) and content (incidental content) produced byusers are shared among users.

The primary content server 1 stores a great deal of audio content datain a predetermined format as primary content and manages the audiocontent data in the form of a database. In response to a downloadrequest from the user terminal 4, the primary content server 1 outputsaudio data as specified primary content to the user terminal 4.

The audio data as the primary content may be a song played an artist andsupplied by an affiliate label company, for example.

The incidental content server 2 stores data of a large number ofincidental content play control files as the incidental content andmanages the data in the form of a database.

The incidental content play control file may be uploaded from the userterminal 4 to the incidental content server 2 via a network. Theincidental content server 2 stores the incidental content play controlfiles thus uploaded as the incidental content. In response to a downloadrequest from the user terminal 4 via the network, the incidental contentserver 2 transmits the requested incidental content play control file tothe user terminal 4.

The communication server 3 also provides information service operated byindividual users and user-to-user communication service, also referredto as consumer generated media (CGM) including social networking service(SN) or blog.

The user terminal 4 is a network device used by an individual user. Inpractice, the user terminal 4 is a personal computer having a networkcommunication function with local area network (LAN).

An application program as a music editing and sharing application 100 isinstalled on the user terminal 4. By operating the music editing andsharing application 100, the user can download primary content from theprimary content server 1, and generate new incidental content byperforming an editing process on the downloaded primary content (and theincidental content). The user also can upload to the incidental contentserver 2 generated incidental content (i.e., an incidental content playcontrol file), download an incidental content (incidental content playcontrol file) from the incidental content server 2, use an SNS serviceusing the communication server 3, and write and browse a blog.

Basic operation of the information processing system of one embodimentof the present invention of FIG. 1 is described below with reference toFIG. 2 in accordance with a basic usage mode of the user of the userterminal 4. With reference to FIG. 2, the information processing systemis described in the order of procedure numbers (enclosed in brackets []) in FIG. 2. User terminals 4A and 4B respectively operated by users Aand B are illustrated in FIG. 2. FIG. 2 does not illustrate the network5 actually present between the primary content server 1, the incidentalcontent server 2, the communication server 3 and the user terminal 4.

Procedure 1

The user A searches on the user terminal 4A (music editing and sharingapplication 100) for primary content the user desires to download. Theuser A performs an operation to download the hit primary content. Inresponse to the operation, the user terminal 4A transmits a downloadrequest to the primary content server 1.

Downloading of each primary content is a fee-based service in principlein the music editing and sharing system of one embodiment of the presentinvention. When a download request is transmitted to the primary contentserver 1, the user A needs to perform a predetermined purchasetransaction. The purchase transaction may be based on a per song feebasis or on a per album fee basis. The purchase transaction may beperformed on a subscription basis. The subscription purchase is more andmore widely accepted recently. Alternatively, the incidental content maybe supplied free of charge. In such a case, the user A does not need toperform any purchase transaction.

Upon receiving the download request, the primary content server 1authenticates the requesting user and verifies fee payment status inorder to determine whether the download request is valid. If it isdetermined that the download request is valid, the primary contentserver 1 searches for incidental content requested in the downloadrequest out of the incidental content stored thereon and transmits dataof the hit primary content (primary content data) to the user terminal 4as a requesting terminal. The substantial body of the primary contentsstored and managed by the primary content server 1 has a file structurecontaining, as main information, audio data in a predetermined formatcontaining song as a primary content (data for playing the primarycontent) and a variety of metadata related to the primary content (suchas a song title, an artist, a title of an album, genre, a data format,and a data size). In the discussion that follows, the main body of theprimary content data is digital audio data, from which the correspondingsong results when played.

The primary content data output from the primary content server 1 isreceived by the user terminal 4A. The user terminal 4A (music editingand sharing application 100) stores the received primary content data ona recording medium such as an internal hard disk drive (HDD). The musicediting and sharing application 100 manages the thus stored primarycontent data in a predetermined structure based on metadata whileplaying the primary content in response to a user operation input.

The primary content data stored on the primary content server 1 ispurchased by the user in principle, and then downloaded to the userterminal 4. In the procedure 1, music is delivered.

The primary content data stored on the user terminal 4A is played by themusic editing and sharing application 100 and the user can listen to thesong from an audio device connected to the user terminal 4A.

Procedure 2

In music delivery over the network, use of downloaded music is limitedto playing with part of digital audio data copy protected. In otherwords, a user having downloaded audio content is permitted to use theaudio content only within a certain range. For example, the user is notauthorized to produce a song by arranging the downloaded audio contentas a secondary creation.

In accordance with one embodiment of the present invention, the primarycontent is audio content. The user is permitted to use the primarycontent (in a secondary use and edit) for a secondary creation within apredetermined range. The secondary use of the primary content in oneembodiment of the present invention is set within a range authorized byan original creator of a song as primary content.

The music editing and sharing application 100 of one embodiment of thepresent invention uses the primary content managed thereby (storedthereon) in a secondary usage fashion and performs an editing process inresponse to the user operation input. The music editing and sharingapplication 100 thus produces audio content as a new song. When suchaudio content is edited, plug-in data having a predetermined specialeffect available in an effect database (DB) 6 is retrieved and used.Similarly, an audio material available in a material database 7 may beretrieved and added in the editing process. The effect database 6 andmaterial database 7 may be arranged on the network or locally on theuser terminal 4A.

The audio content thus produced is now referred to as incidental contentdifferent from the primary content. In the procedure 2, the userproduces a single piece of incidental content by operating the userterminal 4A with the music editing and sharing application 100 running.

The substantial body of the incidental content produced in the procedure2 is not digital audio data having music such as the primary content butplay control information. The play control information contains aninstruction to play what portion of the digital audio data as the audiocontent used in a secondary usage fashion (editing material content) atwhich timing and an instruction for special effects.

FIG. 3 diagrammatically illustrates a secondary editing processperformed by the music editing and sharing application 100. Editingmaterial contents A, B and C to be used in a secondary usage fashion areedited in response to user operation input. Incidental content playcontrol information composed of the play control information rather thanthe audio data is thus output.

The incidental content data (incidental content play controlinformation) as the play control information is substantially smaller indata size than the audio data. A memory capacity of a recording mediumsuch as a hard disk storing the incidental content data is saved andeffectively used in the incidental content server 2. When the incidentalcontent data is exchanged over the network, the transmitted data remainssmall in data size and resulting traffic remains light.

Existing songs are edited to produce a secondary work as a new song inthe second editing process of one embodiment of the present invention.Such a secondary creation is frequently performed by professionalmusicians in sampling or mashup. Under these circumstances, it is onlynatural that an ordinary user may wish to produce a song as a secondarycreation. In practice, an ordinary user has difficulty producing a songas a secondary creation even if the problem of copyright is cleared.

The music delivery and sharing system of one embodiment of the presentinvention allows an ordinary user to perform a secondary editing processin a legally acceptable method using the delivered song. The musicdelivery and sharing system can thus provide a high degree ofentertainment in the delivered content.

The primary content is defined as audio content the user has purchasedand permitted to use in a secondary usage fashion within a rangeauthorized by the copyright holder. The music delivery service of theprimary content server 1 of one embodiment of the present inventiondelivers the audio content the copyright holder positively permits to beused. In accordance with one embodiment of the present invention, theediting process for the secondary use of the primary content is limitedto the user operation on the music editing and sharing application 100developed for the music delivery and sharing system. For example, theediting process cannot be performed using another editing softwareunrelated to the music delivery and sharing system of the embodiment ofthe present invention. A mechanism for such a limitation will bedescribed later.

Procedure 3

The incidental content play control file produced as the incidentalcontent by the user A in accordance with the procedure 2 is stored ononly the user terminal 4A of the user A. As will be described later withreference to FIG. 4, the sound of the song is played as the incidentalcontent in accordance with the play function of the music editing andsharing application 100.

In accordance with one embodiment of the present invention, theincidental content produced by the user is disclosed over the network.Users who receive the service of the music editing and sharingapplication 100 can share the incidental content.

The user A may wish to share the incidental content produced inaccordance with the procedure 2. The user A then performs apredetermined operation on the music editing and sharing application100, thereby uploading the incidental content produced in accordancewith the procedure 2 to the incidental content server 2. That procedureis a procedure 3.

As previously discussed, the body of the incidental content is anincidental content play control file. In the upload process of theincidental content in the procedure 3, the user terminal 4A (musicediting and sharing application 100) outputs the incidental content playcontrol file together with an upload request.

Procedure 4

In response to the upload request as described above, the incidentalcontent server 2 stores on a database as a new registration theincidental content play control file as the incidental content receivedtogether the request. The incidental content server 2 sets a storagelocation (for example, uniform resource locator (URL)), stores theincidental content play control file to register the incidental contentplay control file on the database thereof.

The incidental content server 2 has a disclosure function of disclosingthe incidental content registered on the database. More specifically,the incidental content server 2 discloses the incidental content bypresenting a list of incidental content units registered on the databasein response to an access from the user terminal 4 (music editing andsharing application 100). The incidental content server 2 can transmitthe disclosed incidental content in response to a download request fromthe user terminal 4 (music editing and sharing application 100) as willbe described later.

Procedure 5

Upon storing and managing the incidental content play control file, theincidental content server 2 transmits an address (a storage locationaddress) indicating a storage location of the uploaded incidentalcontent (incidental content play control file) to the user terminal 4A.The user terminal 4A has issued the upload request.

The music editing and sharing application 100 of the user terminal 4Areceives the storage location address, and stores and manages thestorage location address on a predetermined recording medium. The user Acan now output the storage location address of the incidental contentuploaded in the procedure 2 by performing a predetermined operation onthe music editing and sharing application 100.

Procedure 6

The user A having retrieved the storage location address described abovecan notify another user using one of several means that the incidentalcontent of the user A has been disclosed by the incidental contentserver 2.

Procedure 6 is one of the disclosure notification means. As shown inFIG. 2, the user A accesses the communication server 3 in order to writeon his own page in SNS or his own blog a message indicating that theincidental content produced by the user A himself is disclosed. Thestorage location address acquired as a URL in the procedure 5 is labeledtogether with the message.

Procedure 7

After the user A has written the message in the procedure 6, the user Bmay operate the music editing and sharing application 100 installed onthe user terminal 4B and access the page of the user A in SNS or theblog of the user A for viewing. This means that the incidental contentof the user A is newly disclosed. More specifically, the user B isindirectly notified of the new disclosure of the incidental content ofthe user A via the SNS or the blog. Procedure 7 indicates that thenotification of the disclosure of the incidental content has beenperformed.

Procedure 8

Procedure 8 is one of the disclosure notification means. In theprocedure 8, the user A produces and transmits an e-mail using a mailfunction of the SNS, thereby notifying the user B that the incidentalcontent produced by the user A himself has been disclosed. The procedure8 is more direct notification than the notification performed in theprocedures 6 and 7.

In the notification of using the e-mail, the storage location address ofthe incidental content may be labeled on the text of the e-mail.

Procedure 9

The user B receives directly or indirectly the notification that theincidental content produced by the user A has been newly disclosed andcan learn the newly disclosed incidental content. The user B may wish tolisten to the newly disclosed incidental content of the user A. The userB then downloads the incidental content using the music editing andsharing application 100 in procedure 9.

To download the incidental content, the user B clicks the storagelocation address displayed as a link to the diary page of the SNS or thetext of the blog. It is noted that if an address such as a URL iswritten on the diary page of the SNS or the blog, the correspondingcharacter train is disclosed as a link.

In response to the clicking operation to the storage location address,the music editing and sharing application 100 accesses the storagelocation address. More specifically, the music editing and sharingapplication 100 accesses an address indicating the storage location ofthe file of the incidental content produced by the user A and disclosed(incidental content play control file) from among the addresses on theincidental content server 2. The user terminal 4B receives theincidental content play control file and the received incidental contentplay control file is managed under the control of the music editing andsharing application 100. The incidental content is downloaded in thisway.

Procedure 10

The incidental content produced by the user A is stored and managed asdescribed above. The music editing and sharing application 100 in theuser terminal 4B can now play the incidental content. In procedure 10,the song as the incidental content is played in response to a playcommand operation applied to the music editing and sharing application100.

FIG. 4 illustrates a play concept of the incidental content played bythe music editing and sharing application 100.

To play the incidental content, the music editing and sharingapplication 100 interprets the incidental content play control file as adata body. The interpretation results may clarify what audio content isused as an editing material content, what portion of each editingmaterial content is used, how long play time is, and how the editingmaterial content is used, etc. As FIG. 3, FIG. 4 also illustrates audiocontent of the editing material content A, B and C used. In accordancewith the interpretation results, the music editing and sharingapplication 100 performs play control using real audio data as theediting material content A, B and C. As a result, the song as theincidental content is output in sound.

With reference to FIG. 4, real audio data used as auxiliary audiocontent (editing material content) in the incidental content isnecessary. More specifically, to play the incidental content, the realaudio data of the editing material content needs to be present locallytogether with the music editing and sharing application 100 at leasttemporarily. If an attempt is made to play the incidental content withno editing material content present locally, the editing materialcontent needs to be retrieved and present locally.

Procedure 11

In the above case, the editing material content, still unpresentlocally, is downloaded in procedure 11. The procedure 11 of FIG. 2 isperformed in the process of the content playing in the procedure 10.

From the aforementioned discussion, the editing material content is realaudio data. The editing material content is thus primary content. In theprocedure 11, the user terminal 4B accesses the primary content server 1in order to download the primary content that is necessary to play theincidental content in the procedure 10 and still unpresent locally.After the download of the primary content, the editing material contentneeded to play the incidental content is locally present. The playoperation is thus normally performed as shown in FIG. 4.

Several cases of the audio data of the primary content locally presentas a result of the download in the procedure 11 are considered.

In one case as in a normal download process in the procedure 1, theprimary content can be locally present in a storage state on anauxiliary recording device such as a hard disk drive (HDD). In anothercase, the primary content is temporarily stored on a main memory devicesuch as a RAM and is then deleted when the music editing and sharingapplication 100 becomes disabled to play the incidental content. Forexample, the primary content is supplied in a fee-based service inprinciple as previously discussed. In the second case, the primarycontent may be supplied free of charge or for a fee set to be lower thanin a standard download service.

With reference to FIG. 2, the incidental content of the presentembodiment is produced using the primary content as editing materialcontent. Alternatively, the editing material content may include notonly the primary content but also the incidental content. This isfurther discussed with reference to FIGS. 5A-5C. FIGS. 5A-5C illustratea case in which a single piece of incidental content is produced usingtwo pieces of editing material content in a secondary usage fashion.

FIG. 5A illustrates a case in which each of editing material content Aand editing material content B is primary content as in the productioncase of the incidental content discussed with reference to FIG. 2. Morespecifically, the editing process is performed to produce the incidentalcontent with primary content A being the editing material content A andthe primary content B, different from the primary content A, being theediting material content B. As shown in FIGS. 5A-5C, the incidentalcontent contains at least part of each of the primary content A and theprimary content B. In other words, the primary content A and B is usedas a basic editing material (original editing material).

FIG. 5B illustrates an incidental content that is produced by editingthe same editing material content A as the primary content of FIG. 5Aand editing material content C that has been produced by using primarycontents C and D in a secondary usage fashion. The incidental content inthis case contains part of the primary content A contained in theediting material content A and part of each of the primary contents Cand D contained in the editing material content C. More specifically,the original editing content is primary contents A, C and D. To play newincidental content illustrated in FIG. 5B, it is necessary to placelocally the primary content A, C and D.

FIG. 5C illustrates that the editing of two pieces of editing materialcontent C and D as incidental content results in new incidental content.The newly produced incidental content contains part of each piece ofprimary content C and D contained in the editing material content C andpart of each piece of primary content E and F contained in the editingmaterial content D. To play the new incidental content of FIG. 5C, theprimary content C, D, E and F as the original editing materials needs tobe locally stored.

When the incidental content is used as the editing material content toproduce incidental content as shown in FIGS. 5B and 5C, the user storeslocally the incidental content as the editing material content in thesame manner as when the primary content is handled as an editingmaterial content. To this end, the user downloads the incidental contentand stores the downloaded incidental content on the user terminal 4.

When the incidental content server 2 transmits the incidental contentdata in response to the download request of the incidental content, theincidental content data is encrypted. The encrypted data can bedecrypted by the music editing and sharing application 100. The musicediting and sharing application 100 plays only the incidental contentdata that is obtained using the encryption process. For example, themusic editing and sharing application 100 is designed not to playincidental content data originally not encrypted at all and incidentalcontent data encrypted with a different method or algorithm. In otherwords, the music editing and sharing application 100 plays only theincidental content downloaded from the incidental content server 2.

Users may exchange incidental content files in P2P (peer to peer)network communication, e-mail, or file transport protocol (FTP) orexchange incidental content files using a removable medium. A fileobtained in such a way cannot be played because the file has not beenencrypted by the incidental content server 2. In accordance with thepresent embodiment, incidental content produced by someone else can beproperly played only when the incidental content is downloaded from theincidental content server 2. The music delivery and sharing system ofthe present embodiment prevents any illegal incidental content violatingthe copyright laws from being circulated and proliferated over thenetwork. The rights of the copyright holders of the primary content andthe incidental content are thus protected.

With reference to FIGS. 2 through 4 and FIGS. 5A, 5B and 5C, the musicdelivery and sharing system of the present embodiment allows the primarycontent to be downloaded (purchased) first. In other words, the user canenjoy listening to the user's own favorite songs through standard musicdelivery. Use right is set on primary content to permit secondary useand the user edits the primary content as an editing material to producethe user's own content. The incidental content thus produced is publiclydisclosed using communication techniques such as SNS and blog. Anordinary user edits a copyrighted song, produces new audio content(incidental content), and publicly discloses the incidental content inan appropriate manner. Such a process was difficult to perform legallydue to the copyright laws.

In accordance with the present embodiment, the body of the incidentalcontent is the play control information containing at least adescription of an instruction to play the primary content as an originalediting material.

The music editing and sharing application 100 has not only the playfunction of the incidental content but also the edit function ofproducing the incidental content. The music editing and sharingapplication 100 thus performs not only the process of playing sound ofthe incidental content but also accounts for the edit content of theincidental content to be played, in a user interface of the editfunction. Since the incidental content contains the play controlinformation, the user can learn in detail how the downloaded incidentalcontent has been edited, using the edit function of the music editingand sharing application 100.

A structure of the music delivery and sharing system discussed above isdescribed below.

FIG. 6 illustrates an internal structure of the primary content server1. The primary content server 1 includes a controller 11, a storage 12,an authenticator 13, a searcher 14, a database manager 15, a paymentprocessor 16, an encryptor 17 and a network interface 18.

The controller 11 generally controls each element of the primary contentserver 1.

The storage 12, including a hard disk drive (HDD), stores a primarycontent database 12 a. The primary content database 12 a manages audiodata files as the primary content in the form of database. The audiodata file as the primary content contains, in a predetermined format,audio data as real data and a variety of metadata attached thereto.

In response to a download request, the authenticator 13 uses one of auser ID and a password contained in the request, thereby performing anauthentication process to determine whether the user is authentic. Onlyif authentication results show that the user is authentic, the primarycontent is transmitted in response to the request.

In cooperation with the database manager 15, the searcher 14 accessesthe primary content database 12 a, thereby searching for the targetprimary content.

The database manager 15 manages the primary content database 12 a. Whennew primary content is supplied, the database manager 15 updates theprimary content database 12 a to register the new primary content. Whenprimary content is to be deleted, the database manager 15 deletes theprimary content and updates the primary content database 12 aaccordingly.

The payment processor 16 performs a user payment process related tofee-based primary content.

The encryptor 17 performs a predetermined encryption process to theprimary content to be transmitted from the primary content server 1 tothe user terminal 4.

The network interface 18 performs a communication process via thenetwork 5. For example, the network interface 18 under the control ofthe controller 11 receives the download request and transmits theprimary content in response to the request.

FIG. 7 illustrates an internal structure of the incidental contentserver 2. As shown in FIG. 7, the incidental content server 2 includes acontroller 21, a storage 22, an authenticator 23, a searcher 24, adatabase manager 25, a storage location setter 26, an encryptor 27, aninappropriate incidental content processor 28 and a network interface29.

The controller 21 generally controls each element in the incidentalcontent server 2.

The storage 22, including an HDD, stores an incidental content database22 a. The incidental content database 22 a is real data as incidentalcontents to be disclosed and includes incidental content play controlfiles in the form of database.

In response to a download request of the incidental content, theauthenticator 23 uses one of a user ID and a password contained in therequest, thereby performing a predetermined authentication process todetermine whether the user is authentic.

In cooperation with the database manager 25, the searcher 24 accessesthe incidental content database 22 a and searches for desired incidentalcontent.

The database manager 25 manages the incidental content database 22 a.For example, when incidental content (incidental content play controlfile) is newly uploaded, the database manager 25 updates the incidentalcontent database 22 a by registering the uploaded incidental content inthe incidental content database 22 a. When incidental content(incidental content play control file) is deleted, the database manager25 performs a deletion process and then updates the incidental contentdatabase 22 a accordingly.

The encryptor 27 performs a predetermined encryption process onincidental content data to be transmitted from the incidental contentserver 2 to the user terminal 4. When the incidental content isuploaded, the user terminal 4 may have encrypted the incidental contentdata before transmission, depending on system operation. In such a case,the searcher 24 decrypts the incidental content data.

The inappropriate incidental content processor 28 performs apredetermined process on inappropriate incidental content. Thepredetermined process of the inappropriate incidental content processor28 will be described in detail later.

The network interface 29 communicates via the network 5. The networkinterface 29 under the control of the controller 21 receives theuploaded incidental content and the download request, and transmits theincidental content data (incidental content play control file)responsive to the download request.

FIG. 8 illustrates an internal structure of the communication server 3.As shown in FIG. 8, the communication server 3 includes a controller 31,a storage 32, an authenticator 33, a blog operator 34, an SNS operator35 and a network interface 36. The communication server 3 provides blogand SNS communication services.

The controller 31 generally controls each element in the communicationserver 3.

The storage 32, including an HDD, stores a blog database 32 a and an SNSdatabase 32 b. The blog database 32 a manages the data of blog, openedby the user, in the form of database. The SNS database 32 b manages pagecontent on a per SNS user basis in the form of database.

In response to a login request for blog updating and a login request forthe SNS, the authenticator 33 uses a user ID or a password contained inthe request, thereby performing an authentication process. Ifauthentication results show that the user has been successfullyauthenticated, the login is allowed.

The blog operator 34 performs a variety of processes to allow blog to beoperative. For example, in response to a blog access request and anauthorized blog writing screen request, the blog operator 34 transmitsdata of blog screen and a blog writing screen. The blog operator 34 alsomanages the blog database 32 a. For example, the blog operator 34updates the blog database 32 a, accounting for writing on the blog.

Similarly, the SNS operator 35 performs a variety of processes to allowSNS to be operative. For example, the SNS operator 35 transmits data ofa page of SNS in response to the SNS page request and updates the SNSdatabase 32 b to account for writing on a diary.

The network interface 36 communicates via the network 5. The networkinterface 36 transmits page data in response to an access request to theblog or SNS.

The communication server 3 supports blog and SNS. Alternatively,different servers may be arranged respectively for blog and SNS. Forexample, GCM related service may be provided so that an individual usermay issue information on a homepage operated by the individual userother than SNS and blog. Sites operated by individual users, such ashomepages, are well known before SNS and blog become popular.

FIG. 9 illustrates an internal structure of the user terminal 4. Thehardware of the user terminal 4 is a personal computer.

The user terminal 4 includes a network interface 44 to communicate viathe network 5. With the network interface 44, the user terminal 4 cancommunicate via the network 5 with each of the primary content server 1,the incidental content server 2, the communication server 3 and the userterminal 4 of another user.

A central processing unit (CPU) 41 executes a variety of processes inaccordance with an operating system (OS) and a variety of programsinstalled on an HHD 48 and a program stored on a read-only memory (ROM)42. In accordance with one embodiment of the present invention, anapplication program as the music editing and sharing application 100 isinstalled.

A random-access memory (RAM) 43, serving as a working area for the CPU41, stores, as necessary, data and program required for the CPU 41 toperform the variety of programs.

An input-output interface 45 connects to an input device 46 including akeyboard and a mouse. The input-output interface 45 converts anoperational signal output from the input device 46 into a signal to besupported by the CPU 41 and outputs the resulting signal to the CPU 41.

The input-output interface 45 also connects to a media drive 47. Themedia drive 47 records and plays data on a removable medium in apredetermined format.

The input device 46 connects to the HDD 48 including a hard disk as arecording medium. The CPU 41 reads and writes data and programs on thehard disk in the HDD 48 via the input-output interface 45.

The input-output interface 45 connects to a display 49 for displayingimages thereon.

FIG. 10 illustrates a structure of data stored on the HDD 48 in themusic delivery and sharing system of one embodiment of the presentinvention.

As shown in FIG. 10, the HDD 48 stores the music editing and sharingapplication 100 as the data of application programs related to the musicdelivery and sharing system of the embodiment of the present invention.The music editing and sharing application 100 is stored onto the HDD 48in an installation process. Under the control of the music editing andsharing application 100, the HDD 48 stores, as application files, atleast one primary content file (primary content file group 103) and atleast one incidental content play control file (incidental content playcontrol file group 104).

The music editing and sharing application 100, if viewed in terms offunction, is composed of a program part as the content management andediting tool 101 and a program part as the communication tool 102. Thecontent management and editing tool 101 downloads the primary contentfile (composed of audio data and metadata) and the incidental contentplay control file and performs a file operation on the primary contentfile of the primary content file group 103 and the incidental contentplay control file of the incidental content play control file group 104.The content management and editing tool 101 also performs an editingprocess responsive to an editing operation input and a productionprocess on the incidental content play control file responsive toediting results. The communication tool 102 accesses the communicationserver 3, thereby operating the blog and SNS.

FIG. 11 is a functional block diagram diagrammatically illustrating aprogram structure of the content management and editing tool 101. Asshown in FIG. 11, the content management and editing tool 101 includes acommunication controller 111, a primary content retriever 112, a primarycontent storage and manager 113, an incidental content retriever 114, anincidental content storage and manager 115, an incidental contenttransmitter 116, an incidental content generator 117, a incidentalcontent play control file generator and interpreter 118, a decryptor 119and an audio play signal processor 120.

The communication controller 111 includes a program for communicatingwith one of the primary content server 1 and the communication server 3in order to manage and edit content.

The primary content retriever 112 includes a program for retrievingprimary content by downloading the primary content. The primary contentretriever 112 provides a user interface for downloading the primarycontent. Furthermore, the primary content retriever 112 controls thecommunication controller 111 to issue a download request command and toreceive a packet of data of the primary content. The primary contentretriever 112 then restores the data in a data format as the primarycontent.

The primary content storage and manager 113 stores on the HDD 48 theprimary content file retrieved by the primary content retriever 112 andmanages the stored primary content file. For example, the primarycontent storage and manager 113 manages songs, for example, by sortingthe songs according to artist name, album unit, genre, etc.

The incidental content retriever 114 includes a program for retrievingincidental content by downloading the incidental content.

The incidental content storage and manager 115 stores on the HDD 48 theincidental content play control file retrieved by the incidental contentretriever 114 and manages the stored incidental content play controlfile.

The incidental content transmitter 116 under the control of thecommunication controller 111 causes the incidental content play controlfile to be transferred to the incidental content server 2 in anappropriate manner.

The incidental content generator 117 edits the editing material contentof FIG. 3, i.e., produces the body of a song as incidental content. Forexample, the incidental content generator 117 provides a user interfacefor editing operation.

The incidental content play control file generator and interpreter 118generates the incidental content play control file that accounts for thesong of the incidental content generated by the incidental contentgenerator 117. When the incidental content is played, the incidentalcontent play control file generator and interpreter 118 interprets theincidental content play control file of FIG. 4 and determines a playsequence based on the editing material content.

In accordance with one embodiment of the present invention, the primarycontent file is encrypted before being transmitted by the primarycontent server 1. The incidental content play control file is alsoencrypted before being transmitted from the incidental content server 2to the user terminal 4 in the download operation. The incidental contentdata, when uploaded from the user terminal 4 to the incidental contentserver 2, may also be encrypted. The decryptor 119 decrypts theencrypted primary content file and encrypted incidental content playcontrol file when the primary content file and the incidental contentplay control file need to be played or edited. The incidental contentplay control file is encrypted if necessary.

The audio play signal processor 120 performs a predetermined signalprocess on the digital audio data before being converted into an analogsignal when the digital audio data is played. For example, if theprimary content file has been compression encoded, a decoding processneeds to be performed on the digital audio signal in order to obtain adigital audio signal in pulse-code modulation (PCM), for example. Whenthe incidental content is played, the audio play signal processor 120plays a data portion of the primary content file as editing materialcontent in accordance with the play process sequence determined by theincidental content play control file generator and interpreter 118.

When the incidental content is played, the incidental content playcontrol file generator and interpreter 118 accounts for theinterpretation results of the play control information in an editingwork screen as a graphic user interface (GUI) provided by the incidentalcontent generator 117. More specifically, a play instruction indicatedby the play control information is displayed on the editing work screenin a manner recognizable by the user. Upon viewing the instruction, theuser can learn in detail how the incidental content has been produced.This means that the user can recognize accurate information as to howthe creator has produced the incidental content. For example, the usermay wish to know how an audio digital signal of a song as content hasbeen produced. The user may have guessed before how the content has beenproduced, by simply listening to the song and getting the acousticimpression of the song. The user terminal 4 of one embodiment of thepresent invention allows the user to learn more in detail andspecifically how the incidental content has been produced. With theincidental content shared among users, the users using the musicdelivery and sharing system of the embodiment of the present inventionare expected to improve substantially technique and knowledge related tomusic production. The music delivery and sharing system provides a highdegree of entertainment and usefulness to users who are interested inmusic production.

The structure of the incidental content play control file is describedbelow with reference to FIG. 12.

As shown in FIG. 12, the incidental content play control file contains,at least, usage primary content information, usage editing materialcontent information, play control information and present content usagepermission range information. The incidental content play control filecontains these pieces of information in a predetermined structure. Theplay control information is information body (main information) of theincidental content play control file. The other information (the usageprimary content information, the usage editing material contentinformation and the present content usage permission range information)forms metadata.

The usage primary content information indicates the primary contentrequired to play the song as the incidental content corresponding to theincidental content play control file (usage primary content). In otherwords, the usage primary content information indicates the primarycontent used to produce present incidental content. As shown in FIG. 5A,information indicating the primary content forming the incidentalcontent newly produced in the editing process is the usage primarycontent information. As shown in FIG. 5A, the primary content A and B isillustrated as the usage primary content information. As shown in FIG.5B, the primary content A, B and C is illustrated as the usage primarycontent information. As shown in FIG. 5C, the primary content C, D, Eand F is illustrated as the usage primary content information.

Primary content may be deleted from the editing material content thathas been edited to produce the incidental content. With reference toFIG. 5B, in the new incidental content as a song that has been obtainedby editing the editing material contents A and B, the primary content Aand C may be used as sound sources while the primary content D may notbe used. In such a case, the audio data of the primary content used toplay the incidental content is only the primary content A and C and theprimary content D is not required.

In one display mode of the usage primary content information, only theprimary content used to play the incidental content is displayed. Morespecifically, only the primary content A and C is displayed while theprimary content D is not displayed.

In another display mode of the usage primary content information, allthree pieces of the primary content A, C and D are displayed. Althoughthe primary content D is actually not used, the incidental content isconsiderably affected in the course of production by the primary contentD. The primary content D is thus considered to be actually used. Allprimary content, if used at least once by a generation in which presentincidental content is produced, is contained in the usage primarycontent information.

The usage primary content information contains metadata related to theprimary content listed therein.

The usage editing material content information indicates editingmaterial content directly used to produce the incidental contentcorresponding to the present incidental content play control file (usageediting material content). The usage editing material contentinformation of the edited incidental content shown in FIG. 5A isinformation indicating actual primary content files as the editingmaterial content A and B. The usage editing material content informationof the edited incidental content shown in FIG. 5B is informationindicating incidental content (incidental content play control files) asa primary content file as the editing material content A and incidentalcontent (incidental content play control file) as the editing materialcontent C.

The usage editing material content information includes informationrelated to each editing material content.

The play control information contains descriptions of a process sequencefor playing a song as present incidental content. The play controlinformation contains a description indicating primary content as realaudio data to be played, a description indicating a data portion to beused to play incidental content from the audio data as the primarycontent and a description indicating time for playing the data portion.The play control information also contains descriptions for performingspecial effects, such as fade-in, fade-out, overlap, equalizing (soundquality adjustment), play speed magnification, reverberation, delay,etc.

The present content usage permission range information indicatesinformation regarding a usage permission range set in the currentincidental content. The resent content usage permission rangeinformation has a structure of usage content described with reference toFIG. 13.

FIG. 13 illustrates the structure of each of the usage primary contentinformation and the usage editing material content information.

As shown in FIG. 13, the usage primary content information and the usageediting material content information are generally constructed byconcatenating pieces of unit file information. Each unit fileinformation corresponds to usage editing material content. Forconvenience of explanation, each of the usage primary contentinformation and the usage editing material content information is simplyreferred to as “usage content” if there is no need to discriminatebetween the usage primary content information and the usage editingmaterial content information.

The unit file information includes information items for file ID, artistname, song name, and content usage permission range information.

The file ID is a identifier unique to a content file of the usagecontent. More specifically, the file ID is the one for a primary contentfile of the usage content or the one for an incidental content playcontrol file of the usage content. The primary content server 1 attachesthe file ID to the usage primary content file and the incidental contentserver 2 attaches the file ID to the incidental content play controlfile.

The artist name as an information item indicates the name of a performerwho has played the usage content or the name of a creator who hascreated the usage content.

The song name indicates the name of a song of the corresponding usagecontent.

Usage items 1-n list predetermined usage data related to each editing. Avariety of usage data assigned to the usage items is contemplated. Forexample, the following data may be listed:

Data as to whether secondary use of the present content is permitted;

Data related to the use of another content as an editing materialcreated by an artist different from the artist of the present content;

Data related to the use of another content as an editing materialbelonging to an album different from the album of the present content;

Data related to use of special effects;

Data related use of a particular plug-in module;

Editing material extracted from the entire song;

Permission content related to an audio data portion that is extractedfrom the entire song as an editing material;

Number of generations (for example, if the use of a primary content ispermitted down to a grandchild's generation, incidental content of achild using the primary content and incidental content of a grandchildusing the primary content can be produced, but the incidental content ofthe grandchild cannot be edited using the corresponding usage content);and

Data related to the number of and type of pieces of content permitted tobe used in a secondary usage in combination with the present content.

Information related to the usage permission such as“permitted/unpermitted” is set at each usage item. The permissioncontent described at the usage items is summed up so that the usagepermission range of the corresponding usage content is displayed.

FIG. 14 illustrates the play control information of the incidentalcontent play control file.

As shown in FIG. 14, a description delimited by brackets (symbols “[”and “]”) indicates a single play control description of one piece ofusage content.

The play control description of the usage control unit of FIG. 14 isdescribed below.

The play control description of the usage content unit appearing at thehead of the data of FIG. 14 is:

[ file_id=AAAAAA; time=00:00-00:10; position=vv-zz ]This description means that the usage content is specified by a fileID=AAAAAA. Play time of the present incidental content using the usagecontent is 00:00 (starting point) to 00:10 (play time of 10 seconds).During the play time, a data segment of the usage content ranges fromaddress vv to address zz.

The play control description of the subsequent usage content is:

[ file_id=AAAAAA; time=00:10-00:15; position=ss-tt ]This description means that the usage content is specified by a fileID=AAAAAA. Play time of the present incidental content using the usagecontent is 00:10 to 00:15. During the play time, a data segment of theusage content ranges from address ss to address tt.

The play control description of the subsequent usage content is:

[ file_id=BBBBBB; time=00:15-00:20; position=pp-uu ]This description means that the usage content is specified by a fileID=BBBBBB. Play time of the present incidental content using the usagecontent is 00:15 to 00:20. During the play time, a data segment of theusage content ranges from address pp to address uu.

In this way, the audio play signal processor 120 in the music editingand sharing application 100 interprets successively the play controldescriptions delimited by the brackets ([ and]), and performs playcontrol process in response to interpretation results. The incidentalcontent is thus output as an audio signal.

The structure of the primary content file is described below.

As shown in FIG. 15, the primary content file includes the audio data inthe predetermined format having a song as primary content and a varietyof pieces of metadata related to the primary content. Compressionencoded audio data is acceptable. By compression encoding the audiodata, data size is reduced. The compression encoded audio data saves thememory capacity for the primary content in the primary content server 1and is advantageous in transmission over the network.

The metadata forming the metadata group includes the usage permissionrange information of FIG. 13 in addition to information, incidental tothe audio data, including the song title, artist, title of the album towhich the primary content belongs, genre, data format and data size.

An incidental use of the primary content of one embodiment of thepresent invention is based on a permission of a copyright holder. Theusage permission needs to be agreed with the copyright holder of theprimary content (such as the artist). The range and content permitted bythe copyright holder naturally vary depending on how copyright holderthinks of music. To respect the thinking of the copyright holder, theusage permission range information setting the usage permission range ofthe primary content is also contained in the metadata. In this way, theinterests of the copyright holder are respected. It is an idea that auniform usage permission range is applied to the primary content. Inaccordance with one embodiment of the present invention, usagepermission range may be set to be different from primary content toprimary content to account for the interests of the copyright holder.The music delivery and sharing system can thus be more smoothlyoperated.

The usage items of the present content usage permission rangeinformation in the metadata of the primary content is not limited tothat of the incidental content of FIG. 13. It is sufficient if usageitems required for the primary content are set.

The editing processes of the incidental content is described below withreference to flowcharts of FIGS. 16 and 17. The processes of FIGS. 16and 17 are performed when the content management and editing tool 101 inthe music editing and sharing application 100 is executed as a program.

The user of the user terminal 4 starts the content management andediting tool 101 in the music editing and sharing application 100 inorder to edit the incidental content. The user searches the content tobe used as a material for the production of the incidental content andregisters (enters) the hit content as an editing material content. Inresponse, the incidental content generator 117 in the content managementand editing tool 101 performs the process of FIG. 16.

In step S101, the content management and editing tool 101 retrieves thedata of the content registered as the editing material content. If theregistered editing material content is the primary content, the data ofa file as the primary content is retrieved. If the registered editingmaterial content is the incidental content, the data of the incidentalcontent play control file is retrieved.

In step S102, the content management and editing tool 101 reads theusage permission range information from the data retrieved in step S101.A variety of usage permissions set in the content registered as theediting material content is thus recognized as usage items 1-n in theusage permission range information. In step S103, the content managementand editing tool 101 sets the usage permission recognized in step S102in a user interface (UI) for editing the incidental content. The processin step S103 disables the editing process beyond the usage permissionrange set in the editing material content. The incidental contentgenerator 117 thus generates the incidental content.

FIG. 17 illustrates a generation process of the incidental content playcontrol file as real data of the incidental content. The generationprocess is also performed when the content management and editing tool101 is executed as a program.

In step S201, an editing process is performed in response to an editingoperation input. For example, the incidental content generator 117provides a graphic user interface (GUI) on which the user performs theediting process to produce the incidental content. Using the GUI, theuser performs the editing operation to produce the incidental content.In response, the editing process is performed in step S201.

If it is determined in step S202 that an operation to store editingresults has been performed, processing proceeds to step S203. In stepS203, the incidental content play control file is produced based on thesong as the incidental content obtained from the editing results. Instep S204, the incidental content play control file is stored in anappropriate directory on the HDD 48. Subsequent to step S204, processingreturns to step S201.

If the GUI screen is closed to produce the incidental content, the usermay resume another process quitting the process of FIG. 17 (althoughsuch step is not shown).

The present content usage permission range information is producedbefore the production of the incidental content play control file. Thepresent content usage permission range information may be automaticallyset on a per usage item basis in accordance with a predetermined rulewithin a range not beyond a minimum limit determined by summing presentcontent usage permission range information of each primary content asthe original editing material. Alternatively, the present content usagepermission range information may be set in response to the user'ssetting. Even when the present content usage permission rangeinformation is set by the user, the setting falls within a range notbeyond a minimum limit determined by summing present content usagepermission range information of each primary content as the originalediting material.

An upload process of the incidental content of the user terminal 4 isdescribed below with reference to a flowchart of FIG. 18. A processperformed by the incidental content server 2 in response to the uploadprocess is also described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. 18.The process of the user terminal 4 is performed when the incidentalcontent storage and manager 115 and the incidental content transmitter116 are executed as programs. The process of the incidental contentserver 2 is performed in cooperation with the elements of FIG. 7. Inpractice, the process of the incidental content server 2 is performedwhen a computer system (CPU) forming the incidental content server 2executes the program thereof.

In step S301, the user terminal 4 waits on standby for a command toupload the incidental content play control file. Pieces of incidentalcontent (incidental content play control files) produced by the musicediting and sharing application 100 are stored on the HDD 48. Forexample, the user operates the GUI provided by the content managementand editing tool 101 to select at least one piece of incidental contentto be uploaded, from among the incidental content and to upload at leastone piece of incidental content. In response, the user terminal 4generates a command instructing the upload of the incidental contentcorresponding to the incidental content selected on the GUI.

In step S302, the incidental content to be uploaded, namely, theincidental content play control file is read from a predetermineddirectory. In step S303, the user terminal 4 transmits the readincidental content play control file to the incidental content server 2together with the upload request.

In step S401, the incidental content server 2 waits on standby for theupload request. In response to the receipt of the upload request, theincidental content server 2 performs step S402 and subsequent steps. Toproceed to step S402 subsequent to the receipt of the upload request, anauthentication process to authenticate the user is performed. Such anauthentication process is omitted herein.

In step S402, the incidental content server 2 sets the storage location(URL) of the incidental content play control file received together withthe upload request.

In step S403, the incidental content server 2 notifies the user terminal4 having issued the upload request of the storage location of theuploaded incidental content (incidental content play control file).

The user terminal 4 having issued the upload request in step S303 waitson standby for the information relating to the storage location in stepS304. Upon receiving the information regarding the storage location, theuser terminal 4 stores the information regarding the storage location(URL) in an appropriate directory in step S305. The user can hereinaftercall the information regarding the storage location by operating thecontent management and editing tool 101. If the storage location is aURL, a character string of URL may be displayed in response to a callrequest.

FIG. 19 is a flowchart illustrating a download process of the incidentalcontent performed by the user terminal 4 and a process performed by theincidental content server 2 in response to the download process. Theprocess of the user terminal 4 is also performed when the incidentalcontent storage and manager 115 and the incidental content transmitter116 are executed as programs.

In step S501, the user terminal 4 waits on standby for a commandinstructing a download of the incidental content play control file. Forexample, the user operates the GUI provided by the content managementand editing tool 101. The user thus accesses the incidental contentserver 2, selects at least one piece of incidental content to bedownloaded, with a list of stored and managed incidental contentdisplayed, and operates the GUI to download the selected incidentalcontent. If an affirmative answer to the determination in step S501results, processing proceeds to step S502.

In step S502, the user terminal 4 transmits a download request to theincidental content server 2 in response to the download command. Thedownload request contains information specifying a directory (storagelocation) of the incidental content selected during the download commandentering operation. The download request may be issued using a file IDof the incidental content play control file as real data of theincidental content rather than using the storage location.

In step S601, the incidental content server 2 waits on standby for thereceipt of the download request. Upon the receipt of the downloadrequest, the incidental content server 2 performs the process in stepS602. Before proceeding to step S602 subsequent to the receipt of thedownload request, an authentication process is performed. Theauthentication process is not discussed herein.

In step S602, the incidental content database 22 a of the storage 22 isaccessed to search the specified incidental content (incidental contentplay control file). The hit incidental content play control file is thentransmitted to the requesting user terminal 4.

The user terminal 4 having transmitted the download request in step S502waits on standby for the receipt of an incidental content play controlfile in response to the download request in step S503. Upon receipt ofthe incidental content play control file, the user terminal 4 stores andmanages the received incidental content play control file in step S504.

FIG. 20 is a flowchart illustrating a playing process of the incidentalcontent acquired in the download process (stored on the HDD 48). Theprocess of the user terminal 4 is performed when the incidental contentstorage and manager 115, the decryptor 119 and the audio play signalprocessor 120 are executed as programs.

In step S701, the user terminal 4 waits on standby for a play startcommand to play the incidental content downloaded and stored on the HDD48. The user now operates the GUI provided by the incidental contentstorage and manager 115, selects one piece of incidental content fromthe incidental content stored on the HDD 48 and gives an instruction tostart playing the selected incidental content. Processing proceeds fromstep S701 to step S702.

In step S702, the incidental content play control file corresponding tothe selected incidental content is read from the HDD 48.

It is assumed that the incidental content data acquired throughdownloading is stored in the encrypted state thereof on the HDD 48. Instep S703, the read incidental content is decrypted.

If it is determined in step S704 whether the encryption processperformed in step S703 has been successfully completed.

If the incidental content that is specified to be started in step S701is the one legally downloaded from the incidental content server 2, thedecryption process in step S703 is successfully completed andappropriate incidental content data is restored.

If the incidental content data is the one that is retrieved from theincidental content server 2 using means other than the downloading, theincidental content may or may not be encrypted using a differentalgorithm. In such a case, correct incidental content data cannot berestored through the decryption process in step S703 or no decryptionprocess is required at all. More specifically, the decryption process instep S703 is aborted. The decryption process is also aborted in stepS703 if no decryption process is required at all.

If it is determined in step S704 that an affirmative answer is obtainedwith successful decryption results, processing proceeds to step S705.The play control process of this incidental content then starts. If itis determined in step S704 that a non-affirmative answer is obtainedwith aborted decryption results, processing proceeds to step S706. Anerror process is thus executed. In the error process, the play controlprocess is not started for the incidental content specified this timeand the GUI thus notifies the user that the incidental content specifiedthis time is unauthorized and cannot be played.

In accordance with one embodiment of the present invention, the userterminal 4 can play only the incidental content that has been retrievedfrom the incidental content server 2 in an authorized download process.The copyrights of the primary content and the incidental content arethus protected.

Another mechanism may be considered to allow only the incidental contentdownloaded from the incidental content server 2 in an authorized mannerto be played. For example, when the user terminal 4 receives theincidental content in an authorized manner, the incidental content isdecrypted. The incidental content with decryption results attachedthereto is stored on the HDD 48. During playing, the attachedinformation is referenced to determine whether to play or not. When theincidental content server 2 transmits the incidental content, a specialcode indicating that the incidental content is to be downloaded isembedded in the incidental content by the incidental content server 2.During playing, the user terminal 4 verifies the presence or absence ofthe code and the incidental content to determine whether to play theincidental content.

With the music delivery and sharing system of one embodiment of thepresent invention, an ordinary user can use original primary content ina secondary usage fashion, thereby producing incidental content. Theusage permission range information is embedded in the primary content.The content management and editing tool 101 determines whether theincidental content can be produced or not based on the type and contentof the editing process in accordance with the usage permission rangeinformation. The primary content cannot be used beyond the range set bythe copyright holder.

However, depending on how the copyright holder feels, the copyrightholder may not like actual incidental content that has been edited andproduced within the predetermined user permission range.

It is not preferred to leave such incidental content (hereinafterreferred to as “inappropriate incidental content”) disclosed on theincidental content server 2. The inappropriate incidental content fallswithin the usage range limited by the usage permission rangeinformation. But if the copyright holder does not like the inappropriateincidental content, there is a possibility that the inappropriateincidental content violates the copyright.

One embodiment of the present invention relates to a mechanism thatprevents only the inappropriate incidental content from being disclosedwhile protecting the copyright of the copyright holder of the primarycontent.

FIG. 21 diagrammatically illustrates the mechanism not to disclose theinappropriate incidental content on the system. As shown in FIG. 21,each number delimited by brackets (“[” and “]”) represents a respectiveprocedure in the mechanism.

In a procedure 1, the user terminal 4 uploads incidental content to theincidental content server 2.

Upon receiving the uploaded incidental content (incidental content playcontrol file), the incidental content server 2 registers (stores) theincidental content in the incidental content database 22 a. In aprocedure 2, the copyright manager of the usage primary content of theincidental content (i.e., a terminal of the copyright manager) isidentified. The copyright manager refers to a person who manages thecopyright of the usage primary content in the music delivery and sharingsystem of one embodiment of the present invention. The terminal of thecopyright manager refers to a network terminal prepared by the copyrightmanager to exchange information of the music delivery and sharingsystem. The mechanism for the incidental content server 2 to identifythe copyright holder will be described later.

In a procedure 3, the incidental content server 2 notifies a terminal 10of the copyright manager identified in the procedure 2 that theincidental content based on the usage primary content as the primarycontent copyright managed by the copyright manager has been uploaded(i.e., disclosed). In the notification, information regarding thestorage location of the incidental content is also transmitted.

When the copyright manager terminal 10 receives the notification in theprocedure 3, the copyright manager can know the storage location of theincidental content and that the incidental content based on the usageprimary content as the primary content copyright managed by thecopyright manager has been disclosed. In a procedure 4, the copyrightmanager accesses the storage location notified to the incidental contentserver 2, listens to the incidental content by playing the incidentalcontent, and verifies the incidental content as a song.

If the copyright manager likes the incidental content, no particularaction is required. If the copyright manager does not like theincidental content (inappropriate incidental content), the copyrightmanager transmits requesting information from the copyright managerterminal 10 to the incidental content server 2 in a procedure 5. Therequesting information requests the incidental content server 2 todelete the inappropriate incidental content determined to be disclosed.Alternatively, the copyright manager may transmit, to the incidentalcontent server 2, information requesting the incidental content server 2to warn against a creator of the inappropriate incidental content. Thecopyright manager may appropriately determine whether to transmit deleterequest or warn request. Optionally, both delete request and warnrequest may be transmitted concurrently.

Upon receiving the delete request, the incidental content server 2deletes the inappropriate incidental content from the incidental contentdatabase 22 a in a procedure 6 in response to the delete requestinformation. The incidental content server 2 transmits, to the user(user terminal 4) having uploaded the inappropriate incidental content,a notification in a procedure 7 that the inappropriate incidentalcontent has been deleted from the incidental content server 2.

Upon receiving the warn request, the incidental content server 2 warnsthe user (user terminal 4) having uploaded the inappropriate incidentalcontent in a procedure 8. More specifically, the incidental contentserver 2 transmits to the user terminal 4 information notifying ofwarning. In response to the notification, the music editing and sharingapplication 100 in the user terminal 4 displays an interface imagenotifying the user that the warning about the incidental content hasbeen issued. The user views the warning display and takes a properaction. For example, the user modifies the incidental content to satisfythe copyright manager's intention and attempts to upload the modifiedincidental content. Alternatively, the user may delete the presentinappropriate incidental content from the incidental content database 22a in the management function of the music editing and sharingapplication 100.

FIG. 22 is a flowchart illustrating the procedures 2 and 3 illustratedin FIG. 21 and executed by the incidental content server 2. The processof FIG. 22 is mainly performed under the control of the programcorresponding to the inappropriate incidental content processor 28 ofFIG. 7.

As shown in FIG. 22, the incidental content server 2 waits on standbyfor receipt of an incidental content play control file. In response tothe uploading of the incidental content from the user terminal 4, stepS802 and subsequent steps are performed. In step S802, the incidentalcontent play control file is received.

In step S802, the usage primary content information of the incidentalcontent play control file received in step S801 is referenced. The usageprimary content information used as the original editing material isrecognized in the incidental content. To recognize and identify theusage primary content in step S802, the incidental content database 22 ais structured so that a relationship between the incidental content andthe original editing material is indicated. The incidental contentdatabase 22 a is thus referenced.

In step S803, the copyright manager terminal 10 of the usage primarycontent recognized in step S802 is identified.

For example, the storage 22 stores table information (not shown in FIG.7) listing a correspondence between the primary content stored andmanaged on the primary content server 1 and the copyright managerterminal 10. The table information is then referenced. Alternatively,the primary content database 12 a in the incidental content server 2 maystore the information regarding the copyright manager terminal 10 witheach primary content associated therewith. The incidental content server2 then accesses the primary content server 1, thereby inquiring of thecopyright manager terminal 10 corresponding the usage primary content.

In step S803, the copyright manager terminal 10 of the usage primarycontent is identified. In step S804, the identified copyright managerterminal 10 is notified of the uploading of the incidental content. Morespecifically, the copyright manager terminal 10 is notified that theincidental content having the usage primary content as the primarycontent copyright managed by the copyright manager has been uploaded. Aspreviously discussed, the information regarding the storage location ofthe uploaded incidental content is also transmitted in the notificationof the uploading.

FIG. 23 is a flowchart illustrating a process performed by theincidental content server 2 in response to the procedures 5-8 of FIG.21. The process of FIG. 23 is performed in cooperation with theoperations of the elements of FIG. 7 including the inappropriateincidental content processor 28.

In steps S901 and S904, the incidental content server 2 waits on standbyfor one of the delete request information and the warn requestinformation from the copyright manager terminal 10. Upon receiving thedelete request information, processing proceeds from step S901 to stepS902. In step S902, the incidental content server 2 deletes from theincidental content database 22 a the incidental content specified by thedelete request information. In step S903, the incidental content server2 transmits the notification notifying of the deletion of the incidentalcontent to the user terminal 4 of the user who has uploaded to theincidental content to be deleted. Upon receiving the notification, themusic editing and sharing application 100 in the user terminal 4displays an indication on the GUI screen notifying the user that theincidental content data has been deleted.

In response to the reception of the warn request information, processingproceeds from step S904 to step S905. In step S905, the incidentalcontent server 2 transmits the warn information indicating that thecopyright manager has issued a warning to the user terminal 4 of theuser who has uploaded the incidental content having triggered thewarning.

For example, the warn request information from the copyright managerterminal 10 is designed to allow information regarding a warning messageto the user to be embedded. In step S905, the incidental content server2 produces warning information by attaching thereto the informationregarding the warning message contained the warn request information andthen transmits the warning information. The music editing and sharingapplication 100 displays the warning message on the GUI screen thereof.In this way, the effect of warning becomes more effective to the user.

In the above discussion, the user terminal 4 is a personal computer.Alternatively, a mobile device such as a cell phone typically lower inthroughput than the personal computer may be used for the user terminal4. If a cell phone is used for the user terminal 4 in the system of oneembodiment of the present invention, the user can use the user terminal4 in a handier fashion.

The cell phone is typically lower in information processing performancethan the personal computer. It is currently not practical to incorporatethe function of producing the incidental content in the cell phones.

FIG. 24 illustrates a system as a modification of the above-referencedembodiment. Elements identical to those illustrated in FIG. 2 aredesignated with the same reference numerals and the discussion thereofis omitted herein. Numbers in brackets (“[” and “]”) refer to proceduresin the order of operation and the same numbers as those in FIG. 2 areused.

The system of FIG. 24 includes another content server 2-1 in addition tothe primary content server 1, the incidental content server 2 and thecommunication server 3. The incidental content server 2 storages andmanages the incidental content play control file as real data of theincidental content while the incidental content server 2-1 stores andmanages an audio file as real audio data. The real audio data in theaudio file managed by the incidental content server 2-1 is the one thathas been compression encoded in a format that can be decoded by a userterminal 4C as a mobile device.

FIG. 24 illustrates the user terminal 4A and the user terminal 4C as theuser terminals 4. The user terminal 4A stores the music editing andsharing application 100 installed thereon but the user terminal 4C doesnot store the music editing and sharing application 100. Alternatively,a simple application for system use is installed on the user terminal4C. Depending on the simple application, the user terminal 4C candownload and play the audio file as the primary content and theincidental content in the audio file format. The user terminal 4C canaccess the communication server 3 to receive the blog service and theSNS service. The user terminal 4C does not have an editing function forproducing the incidental content.

The system operates as below. In procedures 1 and 2, in the same manneras described with reference to FIG. 2, the user terminal 4A downloadsthe primary content from the primary content server 1 and stores thedownloaded primary content. The user terminal 4A produces the incidentalcontent by performing the secondary editing process using the primarycontent. In the procedure 2 previously discussed, the incidental contentplay control file is produced as the incidental content. In themodification, the incidental content play control file is produced inthe procedure 2 while the audio data file containing the song as theincidental content is also produced in a procedure 2-1.

In a procedure 3, the incidental content play control file is uploadedto the incidental content server 2 in the same way as described withreference to FIG. 2. Furthermore, in a procedure 3-1, the audio datafile of the incidental content produced in the procedure 2-1 is alsouploaded.

The notification of the user A of the user terminal 4A notifying theuser C of the user terminal 4C that the incidental content has beenuploaded is performed in the same way as in the procedures 6, 7 and 8 ofFIG. 2. In the modification, however, the user terminal 4C is notifiedof the storage location of the incidental content in the incidentalcontent server 2-1.

To download the incidental content, the user terminal 4C accesses theincidental content server 2-1 rather than the incidental content server2 in a procedure 9-1. In a procedure 10-1, the downloaded incidentalcontent is played. In this case, the primary content is not played insequence in accordance with the incidental content play control file butthe audio data of the incidental content is decoded and the resultingaudio signal is played.

The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments.

For example, the primary content contains the digital audio data as thebody thereof. Alternatively, the primary content may have the same dataformat as the incidental content. More specifically, a creator mayproduce source sounds as several pieces of digital audio data, performsthe editing process on the source sounds handling the source sounds asthe editing material contents, and produces a play control fileequivalent to an incidental content play control file. The creator thenhandles a package of the digital audio data as a primary content.

Data for playing the primary content is the data of the play controlfile.

No specific GUI screen is presented as the music editing and sharingapplication 100 in the above discussion. A variety of GUI modes may beused for the music editing and sharing application 100.

The primary content server 1, the incidental content server 2, thecommunication server 3 and the user terminal 4 of FIGS. 6-9 are shownfor exemplary purposes only and may be modified or changed as necessary.One of the three servers may be split into a plurality of servers.Conversely, at least two of the three servers may be combined into one.

The music editing and sharing application 100 is not limited to the onediscussed with reference to FIGS. 10 and 11. A variety of modificationsmay be incorporated in the music editing and sharing application 100.

The incidental content play control files are shown in FIGS. 12, 13 and14 for exemplary purposes only, and a variety of modifications andextensions may be incorporated in each of the incidental content playcontrol files.

The processes, namely program codes, illustrated in the flowcharts ofFIGS. 16-19, and FIGS. 22 and 23 are described for exemplary purposesonly and a variety of modification may be incorporated.

The content played by the primary content data and the incidentalcontent data are audio content such as songs. The content may be audioand video content as a moving image. In such a case, data used to playactual content as primary content is video signal data (and audio signaldata played in synchronization with the corresponding video signal). Thepresent invention is applicable to still image content such as aphotograph or image.

It should be understood by those skilled in the art that variousmodifications, combinations, sub-combinations and alterations may occurdepending on design requirements and other factors insofar as they arewithin the scope of the appended claims or the equivalents thereof.

What is claimed is:
 1. An apparatus comprising: at least one processor;and at least one non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storingexecutable instructions that, when executed by the at least oneprocessor, cause the at least one processor to carry out a methodcomprising: in response to receiving a search request, searching aplurality of media contents based on the search request to identifymedia contents that satisfy the search request and that are individuallyassociated with data indicating that a holder of a copyright in thatmedia content has authorized use of the media content to produce newmedia content; and transmitting information regarding at least one mediacontent identified in the searching to a source of the search request.2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein: each media content of theplurality of media contents is stored in the at least one non-transitorycomputer-readable storage medium in a data structure; and the dataindividually associated with at least some of the media contents of theplurality of media contents is data stored within the data structure ofthe media content with which the data is individually associated.
 3. Theapparatus of claim 2, wherein the data structure is a file.
 4. Theapparatus of claim 1, wherein the data that is individually associatedwith a media content and indicates that a holder of a copyright in thatmedia content has authorized use of the media content in producing newmedia content comprises data identifying multiple permissible uses ofthe media content, the multiple permissible uses of the media contentcomprising playback of the media content.
 5. The apparatus of claim 1,wherein the method further comprises: receiving a request to store afirst new media content and make the first new media content availablefor playback via at least one web page, the first new media contentcomprising at least a portion of one or more of the plurality of mediacontents.
 6. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein: the at least one mediacontent identified in the searching comprises a first media content, thefirst media content being individually associated with the dataindicating that the holder of the copyright in the first media contenthas authorized use of the first media content to produce new mediacontent; and the method further comprises receiving a first new mediacontent incorporating at least a portion of the first media content. 7.The apparatus of claim 1, wherein: the plurality of media contentscomprise video contents.
 8. A method of managing at least one data storestoring a plurality of media contents, at least some of the mediacontents of the plurality being individually associated with dataindicating that a holder of a copyright in that media content hasauthorized use of the media content to produce new media content, themethod comprising: in response to receiving a search request, searchingthe plurality of media contents based on the search request to identifymedia contents that satisfy the search request and that are individuallyassociated with the data indicating that the holder of the copyright hasauthorized use of that media content to produce new media content; andtransmitting information regarding at least one media content identifiedin the searching to a source of the search request.
 9. The method ofclaim 8, wherein: each media content of the plurality of media contentsis stored in the at least one computer-readable storage in a datastructure; and the data individually associated with at least some ofthe media contents of the plurality of media contents is data storedwithin the data structure of the media content with which the data isindividually associated.
 10. The method of claim 9, wherein the datastructure is a file.
 11. The method of claim 8, wherein the data that isindividually associated with a media content and indicates that a holderof a copyright in that media content has authorized use of the mediacontent in producing new media content comprises data identifyingmultiple permissible uses of the media content, the multiple permissibleuses of the media content comprising playback of the media content. 12.The method of claim 8, wherein the method further comprises: receiving arequest to store a first new media content and make the first new mediacontent available for playback via at least one web page, the first newmedia content comprising at least a portion of one or more of theplurality of media contents.
 13. The method of claim 8, wherein: the atleast one media content identified in the searching comprises a firstmedia content, the first media content being individually associatedwith the data indicating that the holder of the copyright in the firstmedia content has authorized use of the first media content to producenew media content; and the method further comprises receiving a firstnew media content incorporating at least a portion of the first mediacontent.
 14. The method of claim 8, wherein: the plurality of mediacontents comprise video contents.
 15. At least one non-transitorycomputer-readable storage medium having encoded thereon executableinstructions that, when executed by at least one processor, cause the atleast one processor to carry out a method of managing at least one datastore storing a plurality of media contents, at least some of the mediacontents of the plurality being individually associated with dataindicating that a holder of a copyright in that media content hasauthorized use of the media content to produce new media content, themethod comprising: in response to receiving a search request, searchingthe plurality of media contents based on the search request to identifymedia contents that satisfy the search request and that are individuallyassociated with the data indicating that the holder of the copyright inthat media content has authorized use of that media content to producenew media content; and transmitting information regarding at least onemedia content identified in the searching to a source of the searchrequest.
 16. The at least one non-transitory computer-readable storagemedium of claim 15, wherein: each media content of the plurality ofmedia contents is stored in the at least one computer-readable storagein a data structure; and the data individually associated with at leastsome of the media contents of the plurality of media contents is datastored within the data structure of the media content with which thedata is individually associated.
 17. The at least one non-transitorycomputer-readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein the data that isindividually associated with a media content and indicates that a holderof a copyright in that media content has authorized use of the mediacontent in producing new media content comprises data identifyingmultiple permissible uses of the media content, the multiple permissibleuses of the media content comprising playback of the media content. 18.The at least one non-transitory computer-readable storage medium ofclaim 15, wherein the method further comprises: receiving a request tostore a first new media content and make the first new media contentavailable for playback via at least one web page, the first new mediacontent comprising at least a portion of one or more of the plurality ofmedia contents.
 19. The at least one non-transitory computer-readablestorage medium of claim 15, wherein: the at least one media contentidentified in the searching comprises a first media content, the firstmedia content being individually associated with the data indicatingthat the holder of the copyright in the first media content hasauthorized use of the first media content to produce new media content;and the method further comprises receiving a first new media contentincorporating at least a portion of the first media content.
 20. The atleast one non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 15,wherein: the plurality of media contents comprise video contents.